Positive Daily Commentary on Southern Gospel
Wes Hampton recently went to a Steve Green concert. During the concert, Green called him up to the stage for a duet on “It is Well With My Soul.”
Hampton posted a video of the song:
Seeing this got me thinking that a “three tenors” concert series featuring Green, Hampton, and one other former Gaither Vocal Band tenor (Larnelle Harris, David Phelps, or Terry Franklin) would probably produce some great nights of music.
Jason Waldroup’s thirteen-year tenure with Greater Vision ends Saturday night, with their concert at First Baptist Church in Morristown, Tennessee. Jacob Kitson, their new tenor, has been with them for several weeks, and will perform his first full concert with the group on Wednesday.
In true Greater Vision style, the group is introducing Jacob via an online photo gallery. Greater Vision’s is probably the most extensive photo gallery online, at least among major Southern Gospel groups, and it looks like they won’t be missing a beat with Jacob.
One photo in particular caught my attention. For all those wondering how Jacob’s height–speculation has it he’s taller than Jason Waldroup–will affect Greater Vision’s concert staging, this picture is worth a thousand words:
Over at Averyfineline, frequent commenter CVH comments on a current story, but starts an interesting rabbit trail:
Really, with the possible exception of Michael Card, does anyone consider songwriters to be theologians? Most are nothing more than conveyors of truth as they understand it.
So do we consider songwriters theologians?
More important, should we? Do we have an adequate understanding of how much our theology is impacted by our favorite songs?
Rating: 5 (of 5)
Average Song Rating: 4.3 (of 5)
Song List: Give the World a Smile; Moses; Behold the Master Cometh; I’ll Pray For You; Mention the Name; In the Garden; Wicked Path of Sin; Beautiful Star of Bethlehem; What Did He Ever See In Me; First Step; Little is Much; The Son Will Rise.
Available from: Crossroads.
***
Georgia Live, released by the Kingsmen in 1995, has been out of print for several years. It was recently reissued digitally by Crossroads as part of a series of discounted reissues ($7.99 instead of the standard cost of $9.99 for a new digital album).
Like any good Kingsmen live project, Georgia Live kicks off with a convention song, in this case “Give the World a Smile.” After a decent mid-tempo song, “Moses,” Eldridge Fox was featured on the album’s first major highlight, “Behold the Master Cometh.” The song was inspired by a trip Fox took to the Holy Land, specifically when a backwoods Tennessee preacher read from John at Lazarus’ tomb.
After a string of several songs, “I’ll Pray for You” (featuring Jim Hamill), “Mention the Name” (featuring Chris Collins), and “In the Garden” (featuring Randy Miller), the Kingsmen Band sang a bluegrass arrangement of “Wicked Path of Sin.”
“Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” featured a classic Kingsmen slow-it-down and embellish-the-notes encore.
Tim Surrett sang “What did He Ever See in Me,” a song with a soundtrack. When introducing the song, Hamill emphasized how important live accompaniment was to him (and the Kingsmen style). This is somewhat interesting retrospectively, since today’s Kingsmen sing their entire program with soundtracks.
Another project highlight was Chris Collins’ rendition of “Little is Much,” using the same arrangement that Larry Ford (Homecoming Favorites, 1999) and Ernie Haase (Stand By Me Live, 2004) have used. I’m not entirely sure whether this particular arrangement originated with the Kingsmen or even earlier. (Do any of you know the arrangement’s history?)
The project closes with an uptempo convention song, “The Son Will Rise.”
While I have most of the Kingsmen’s classic live albums from the 70s and 80s, I hadn’t been as familiar with their 1990s sound. While this project may not be quite as good as Big & Live, Live…Naturally, or Live at the University of Alabama, it is in the same ballpark, and it comes pretty close.
Much like Frank Seamans, who in 2005 or so decided to leave Legacy Five but changed his mind several weeks later, Legacy Five pianist Tim Parton changed his mind and decided to stay with the group.
In a press release distributed last night, Parton apologized for the confusion: “I’m sorry for causing confusion…that was not my intent. I appreciate the group giving me the opportunity to continue serving as their pianist.” He said that he is working on balancing his schedule, and looking forward to continuing with Legacy Five.
In the past few years, I have learned some things about recording artists that I never realized before. The main thing that surprised me is that the artists purchase their CDs like any other distributor. Maybe others aren’t as dense as I am but recently I was talking to a recording artist who told me that, often, at concerts where a free will offering is taken, people don’t give in the offering because they plan to buy products. That hit a chord with me since I’ve been guilty of doing the same thing. She went on to say that people don’t understand that these groups need the offering too.
One of my concerns with giving an offering is I’m never sure how much of the offering will really go to the group that’s performing. I do occasionally give money in the offering plate (and I should mention here that supporting the churches who bring in gospel groups is necessary too) but in the instances where I want to make sure the money goes to the group, I will add a little extra to my check or credit card purchase and tell the group they can keep the change.
There’s been a lot of talk about groups disbanding due to funds to keep going. Although I realize a lot of people don’t have tons of money to give at concerts, and I really appreciate the groups who are willing to do concerts for a free will offering in order to allow more people to attend, I hope that those who can afford to do so will help to support these groups who are trying to balance ministry with livelihood.
A couple of stories that didn’t get mentioned earlier this week:
One more thing. This is the first time I’ve done this, but here is a preview of the next few weeks on our weekly Friday CD reviews feature:
Legacy Five just distributed a press release announcing that pianist Tim Parton will be leaving the group “to pursue other interests.” He will leave once a replacement is found.
Tim Parton stated that he “enjoyed filling in for Roger Bennett during his illness and was glad to stay on board after his death,” but that he got to the point where he had to choose between touring and other musical opportunities. (This could involve producing, since he has been involved in producing albums before.) He thanks Legacy Five fans “for welcoming me and accepting me into the Legacy Five family.”
Scott Fowler thanked Parton for helping through “a rough transition” with “humility and class.” He added, “There isn’t an unkind bone in Tim’s body. He’s one of my favorite people and all the guys will miss him but we wish him all the best.” Fowler will be auditioning pianists and can be contacted at scottfowler@legacyfive.com.
Parton is the second pianist to leave a major Southern Gospel group this week, Matthew Holt’s departure from the Perrys. The particularly weird feature is that both are top 5 nominees in the Singing News Fan Awards. Voting on the final round has ended, so this will not affect the vote. However, Singing News may not choose to count votes for Holt and Parton as being valid; their policies aren’t entirely clear on that point.
Everyone knew Roger Bennett would be a difficult and nearly impossible act to follow. Tim Parton did well under the circumstances, quietly supporting the group from the background rather than trying to duplicate Bennett’s on-stage charisma. His year and a half as the group’s official pianist (with several months spent filling in previously), though more or less an interlude in the group’s history, will go a long way toward letting the group’s third pianist bring his own set of shoes to fill.
Rating: 4.5 stars (of 5)
Producer: Ken Harding, Daniel Riley.
Songlist: Ain’t That What It’s All About; When I Get Carried Away; Introduction of Members; Teach Me Lord to Wait; I’m Rich; Look Who Just Checked In; Under Control; If God Be For Us; Truth is Marching On; Get Up, Get Ready; After Awhile; Alone in the Garden; Mercy Came Running; Preach the Word.
Available from: Amazon, CBD, artist.
***
This summer, Gold City releases two projects. Moment of Truth, a CD of new songs, was reviewed last week. Live at the National Quartet Convention features thirteen songs recorded over Gold City’s three sets at NQC last September. Unlike a Gaither release, where a CD and DVD released together feature (mostly) the same songs, this video features songs from Gold City’s previous release, Revival.
Gold City staged seven of the ten songs on Revival for the video; the only three that weren’t were “God’s Still Good,” “That’s What I’m Talkin’ About,” and “Not Anymore.” Five classics also made the set list–”When I Get Carried Away,” “Under Control,” “If God Be For Us,” “After Awhile,” and “Alone in the Garden.”
This is Jonathan Wilburn’s last film project with the group. It was the first in another way, though–Gold City’s first DVD without a band. But since NQC’s stage setup hides the band down on the side, their absence is less felt than in a concert taped in a typical church or theater setting.
Since performers don’t have the opportunity to stop for a re-take, often live-at-NQC videos suffer a little in video and audio quality. But the videography is impressive–though a notch below Gaither’s Hi-Def quality, it’s several notches above video quality in some previous NQC projects. There are few if any awkward cuts as a group member moves out of the camera’s zoomed view, and few instances where a shot is dampened by a sudden spotlight change.
Gold City’s last few studio projects have experimented with new styles as the group redefines its sound, with mixed (though largely positive) results. Constant personnel changes have been a challenge that the group has had to work hard to overcome. But this DVD demonstrates that they are still masters of the live stage.
Yesterday, my family and I went out to Harrod, OH to see the Blackwood Brothers in concert. The Blackwood Brothers Quartet is run by Jimmy Blackwood, son of James Blackwood. Jimmy himself sang lead for the Blackwood Brothers for some time in the ’70s before leaving the road; several years ago, he brought the name back.
The Blackwood Brothers Quartet is one of the few groups on the road today to do their entire program with two old-fashioned microphones. Much of their program is done with light soundtracks (piano and perhaps some bass guitar), but for some of the program their baritone/pianist, Brad White, moves over to the piano (where a third old-fashined microphone is set up) and accompanies the group live.
First set:
During intermission, Brad White played a second piano solo, “Tis So Sweet.”
Second set:
Then, they did a request time, taking several audience requests:
Then, returning to the program, they finished with:
The requests time was certainly one of the evening’s highlights. Much of their program was the same as when I saw them two years ago (with This Old House being a delightful addition), but the requests are different every time. In fact, the requests are perhaps the biggest reason to go see the group multiple times–even if the rest of the program remains the same, you can always ask for a favorite during requests.
After entertaining the thought of asking for “Excuses,” primarily to see what they would say, I settled on “Victory Road.” They didn’t know it well enough to feel comfortable doing it, but they let me have a second pick, and I asked for “Suppertime.” I had heard good things about Randy Byrd’s rendition, and I was not disappointed. He is one of the hidden gems on the Southern Gospel scene, and has both the voice and the personality to become a fan favorite once more fans get to know him
It was an enjoyable evening, and worth the nearly two-hour trip.
© 2008 by Daniel J. Mount. Theme designed by MainCore and modified by DJM.
